Pearls of the Deep

Hrabal can be felt a mile away in his individual stories, and raw poeticism is truly typical of him in the Czech environment. In the '60s, young New Wave filmmakers made it their duty and honor to adapt at least a part of his work into film. The influence of the New Wave's filmmaking techniques is also strongly noticeable in this episodic film, meaning the use of non-professional actors, minimal interference in their dialogues, and an effort for maximum authenticity of the setting. Unfortunately, my overall impression is dampened by the use of low-quality film material, which has been affected by the passage of time. In some cases, I simply could not understand the non-actors' lines and the actions of Menzel and Chytilová sometimes felt like filmmaking mannerisms. Nevertheless, the film does have several strong and deeply human moments, and the final romance between a Roma girl and a factory apprentice is both comical and sentimental. Overall impression: 55%. In the individual stories, it is clearly evident that the later famous filmmakers were still learning as they went along and that they were rather self-absorbed, with the viewer as a consumer of their work not being of great concern. The use of musical motifs is problematic, some of which I considered to be truly disharmonious attacks on my eardrums, and in consideration of my neighbors, I constantly had to adjust the volume. Either I couldn't hear the dialogues or I was overwhelmed by organ or other musical outputs. (08/09/2009)

If it has any artistic value, I just can't find it. The fact is that I almost fell asleep with two of the stories, and with one I did, luckily (?) my neighbor woke me up so I could finish it with "gusto". But it was fortunate that the last story was really good; for that I’m giving it a better 2 stars. (03/18/2010)